A Study on English Translation of Numerals in TCM—Taking Li Zhaoguo’s English Translation Version of Yellow Emperor’s Cannon of Medicine as an Example

As traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) gradually enters the international perspective, it is facing new opportunities and challenges, so the translation of Chinese medicine culture becomes more important. TCM classics are the principle part of TCM culture. Among them, numerals occupy a large proportion, and at the same time, numerals are an aspect that translators can easily ignore. Therefore, this article discusses the English translation of TCM numerals. Besides, due to the different cultural backgrounds, there are many non-correspondences between Chinese and English numerals. The meaning of quantifiers in English is single, while the meaning of numerals in Chinese medicine is complicated. It requires that translators should pay attention to numeral translation on the process of translation. Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine has been guiding the development of Chinese medicine. This paper, taking Li Zhaoguo’s translation vision as an example, makes an in-depth analysis of the meaning of numerals, studies the translation methods of translators, and compares Li’s vision numeral processing methods, so as to better apply them to the translation practice of TCM culture.

traditional Chinese medicine translation. Therefore, there are some references to various aspects.
In terms of Chinese numerals, numerals not only have superficial quantitative meanings, but also carry many deep meanings. In the process of studying traditional Chinese medicine numerals, it is necessary to understand and analyze Chinese numerals. The Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine is the earliest medical classic in China. It contains a large and representative corpus of numerals, which can be used for reference in the study of numerals in Chinese language or literature.
In terms of the dissemination of Chinese medicine culture, the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine was written during the Warring States Period, which contains a large amount of knowledge and culture of Chinese medicine. And now the book still has profound guiding significance for clinical practice.
Then the numerals in it reflect the diversification of TCM culture to varying degrees, and the study of numerals has also promoted the understanding and deepening of the ideology and culture of TCM to a certain extent, so as to better promoted the communication of TCM.
In terms of TCM translation strategies, based on the study of English translation of numerals by TCM, the purpose is to come up with good translation methods so that there are basis in translation. Many domestic experts and scholars, as well as translators and enthusiasts of traditional Chinese medicine who have done researches on this aspect, but relatively few translations of traditional Chinese medicine numerals have been provided. This paper provides relevant reference for its development in this direction.

Value and Representative Significance of Li Ben
Li Zhaoguo, a professor at Shanghai Normal University, is mainly engaged in English teaching and translation research. He has published more than 20 research monographs, more than 30 translated books, and hundreds of research papers, random thoughts, random notes and reading notes. His

Comparison of Numerals in English and Chinese
Due to the inconsistency of the English and Chinese language backgrounds, there are differences between Chinese and English numerals in terms of frequency of use, word formation structure, and pragmatic meaning. There are a large number of idioms and proverbs in Chinese, and they are widely used. For example, there are a large number of relevant numeral idioms consisting of "一心两用", "三 言两语", "五湖四海", "七上八下", while in English there are only two expressions such as in twos and threes, at sixes and sevens. This shows that Chinese numerals are used more frequently than English, and that Chinese has a stronger ability to form words than English. This shows that there are many vocabulary vacancies in the meaning of numerals in Chinese and English languages, which has caused some problems in translation between English and Chinese. In fact, there is a pragmatic difference in the use of the two languages. In addition to the actual meanings, there are many extended meanings, such as the "四" in the Chinese idiom "四通八达", the "four" in English also have extended meanings, such as the four hundred (上层社会), and four-letter word (粗话) and so on .

Fuzziness of TCM Numerals
Language has a high degree of generality, which determines the ambiguity of the language, so this makes the numerals have the fuzziness in certain circumstances. The traditional Chinese medicine language has obvious vague characteristics, especially the traditional Chinese medicine books have a lot of vague language. In this way, we will encounter many problems in the process of understanding Chinese language and translating it accurately.

Research Method
Open the electronic version of the Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine and use the search function of Microsoft Word 2016 to enter "one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "seven", "eight", "nine", "ten", "hundred", "thousands" and " ten thousand", and then check the search results to avoid mistakes and omissions. Then, a comparative analysis of the screening results is carried out, and an relatively effective translation method is obtained.

Classification of Numerals
According to the classification methods of numerals by domestic and foreign scholars and the characteristics of Chinese language, especially the language characteristics of TCM language embodied in the Yellow Emperor's Cannon of Medicine, Chinese numerals can be classified according to their Translation: What I have learnt is too much ti be listed. I have made some inferences and summarize it into a system (Li, 2008).
Single numeral are the most common form of numerals. The "一" here means the meaning means "one", and a literal translation method is used here.
Translation: What is the disease that lasts two or three years with the manifestations of hypochondriac fullness and reserve flow of Qi (Li, 2005)?
This sentence uses equivalent translation.
Translation: The kidney controls water, it receives and stores Jing (Essence) from Five Zang-Organs and the Six Fu-Organs (Li, 2005).
"五脏六腑" involves the translation of traditional Chinese medicine terms. So far, there are many versions of this term, such as "viscera", "Five internal organs", etc. There are even funny translations of "five warehouses, six palaces". However, Mr. Li Zhaoguo adopted a combination of transliteration, which not only preserved the national language characteristics, but also refined the introduction. And it was slowly accepted by scholars at home and abroad.
Translation: At the age of fourteen, Tiangui begins to appear, Renmai (Conception Vessel) and Chongmai (Thoroughfare Vessel) are vigorous in function. Then she begins to have menstruation and is able to conceive a baby (Li, 2005).
"二七" here represents the product in ancient Chinese, and is equivalent to "age" in this context.
Translation: In this way, the Jing (Essence) of water is distributed all through the body and into the five Channels in conformity with the change of the four seasons and the change of Yin and Yang of the Five Zang-Organs (Li, 2005).
The numerals here have been converted and here adopted adaptation translation method. The "four" in this article means the whole body, so it is treated as "all through the body".
Translation: That means once you have gasped the main principle, it will possible for you to deal with many other different things (Li, 2008).
"一" here uses interpretive translation method to explain its inner meaning, which indicates the general rules.

Principle of Nationality
The so-called nationality principle refers to respecting the linguistic habits of the target country in translation, and trying to maintain the nationality of fuzzy semantics of quantifiers. Language is the carrier of culture, and TCM language is an important support for TCM culture. TCM language has a clear ambiguity, and the backgrounds of the formation of Chinese and English languages are not the same. Therefore, in the process of English translation, we need to take care of readers in English-speaking countries and interpret or annotate numerals to help the target language readers understand.

Example：取之膺中外脸，背三节五脏之傍……(《五邪第二十》).
Translation: [To treat such a disease, ] Acupoints located on the lateral side of the chest and the Acupoint located lateral to the third thoracic vertebra can be needled (Li, 2008).
The "三节五脏" here did not adopt the method of equivalent translation, but used the method of interpreting translation to translate into "Acupoint located lateral to the third thoracic vertebra…", and added "Acupoint" to make the translation more convenient for target language readers to understand.

Principle of Popularity
The expression of fuzzy numbers in Chinese and English language has a long-term and regular sentence. They are simple and concise, easy to understand, and can not force the word equivalent of numbers when translating. Instead, we should take the habit as the principle and pay attention to the authentic expression. We try our best to adopt the principle of naturalization in translation and find out the most appropriate idiom to correspond to. For example, the Chinese translation of "乱七八糟" is "at sixes and sevens".

Principle of Visualization
The so-called visual principle means that when translating, we should go beyond the superficial meaning of the numerals and its meaning should be used to capture the meaning of the image after combining it with other words. According to the national cultural tradition and language expression habits, we should either retain the image, or convert it into the image in the target language, choose the right words to translate.
Translation: The lung is connected with all the vessels and transport Jing(Essence)to the skin and hair (Li, 2005).
Here, "百" refers to the meaning of whole body. This numeral is not a simple superficial meaning. It should not be translated into "hundred", but its deep meaning. Consequently, it can be explained to facilitate the understanding of the target language readers, and it is also more vivid.

Literal Translation
Literal translation refers to a translation method or text that maintains both the original content and the original form in the process of translating numerals. This is the most common method of translation.
On the basis of understanding the numerals in the original text, as long as it complies with language specifications and relevant expression habits, equivalent translation is generally used. In this way, the national characteristics of TCM culture are retained, and the feelings of translators are also taken into account.

Liberal Translation
Free translation refers to translation according to the general meaning of numerals in the context, and does not translate word by word. Free translation is mainly applied in situations where the original and target languages reflect a huge cultural difference. From the perspective of cross-cultural language communication and cultural exchange, free translation emphasizes the relative independence of the target cultural system and the original cultural system. Different nations have different cultural customs.
When the content of the original text is in conflict with the expression form of the translation, it is not appropriate to use literal translation. Instead, we need to adapt to it without having to stick to the original meaning and form of the original text.
Translation: The sages can understand all the things in the world as clearly as the shine of the sun and the moon, and the sound of the drum being beaten (Li, 2008 The "万" here means everything, so there is no literal translation when translating, and it is not restricted to the superficial meaning of the number, but is translated as "all".

Adaptation Translation
Adaptation translation is to change the structure of the original sentence, appropriately increase or decrease certain information, and adapt the language expression habits of the target language to facilitate readers' understanding.
Translation: …abiding by [the changes of] Yin and Yang，adapting [themselves] to the changes of seasons… (Li, 2005).
A "seasons" is used to indicate "四时", and the numeral "四" is omitted in translation, which is concise and clear, and does not affect the meaning of the original text.

Annotation
Due to the many differences between English and Chinese cultures, especially in medical culture, certain cultural words in Chinese medicine have no equivalent in Western medicine at all, so there are many vacancies in word meaning. In this case, Chinese-English translation is often necessarily use annotations to fill the gap. Annotations can usually supplement the semantics and facilitate the understanding of the target speaker.
Translation: So the liver, the heart, the spleen, the lung and the kidney are all Yin, while the gallbladder, the stomach, the large intestine, the small intestine, the bladder and the Sanjiao (Triple-Energizer) are all Yang (Li, 2005).
The sentence contains the numerical term "三焦". And the method of transliteration and annotation is adopted here. It not only retains the characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine, but also explains the interpretation of Sanjiao by this method, which is beneficial to readers' acceptance.

Conclusion
Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure of the Chinese nation. Translation has played an incomparable role in the process of Chinese medicine going global. There are many numerals in TCM culture, and mainly in the classics of TCM, which account for a large number of numerals in them. Chinese medicine, as an object. And then uses the translation vision of Mr. Li Zhaoguo, who is well-known in the field of Chinese medicine, as an example to discuss the classification, principles and methods of numerals in TCM.
This article uses the document search function of Microsoft Word 2016 to filter and analyze the numbers found. On this basis, translators can use literal translation, liberal translation, adaptation translation and annotation when dealing with numerals. In the course of practice, a combination of two or more translation methods can also be adopted together to make the translation of numerals more flexible.
Due to the large length of the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine and the large number of numerals, this article only randomly selects a small part for analysis. Besides, the numerals in traditional Chinese medicine have far-reaching significance, it is inevitable that the phenomenon of partiality will appear.
In addition, my knowledge of linguistics and medicine is shallow, and I have insufficient practical experience, so I have a lot of lack of understanding of traditional Chinese medicine numerals. This article discusses inadequacies and requires continuous learning.
In addition, I have little knowledge of linguistics and medicine and lack of practical experience, so there are many deficiencies in my understanding of numerals in TCM. This thesis exists many limitations and I should constantly enrich my knowledge. Despite the limitations, it also offers implications to further study.